Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Msgr. Michael Woster
Homily from the Televised Mass, NewsCenter1
Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 1, 2023

The Gospel today asks who are we and what is the character of our Christian discipleship. The parable from Matthew today outlines two possible responses to God’s call to holiness. The first son says in response to his father’s command to go to work in the vineyard, the vineyard is an image, of course, of the field of God’s church. He says, “No, I won’t go,” but then he later regrets and goes and labors faithfully. This son represents all those who fail to live God’s call to holiness for a time, which is no doubt many of us. I know in my case it was true. But then they repent and make a serious commitment to be faithful. Our Lord can work with folks such as these.  We know from our tradition that many of the greatest saints have first been great sinners. 

But the second son, who says he will go, but then ignores the responsibility and work that follows, is a symbol of so many in the church today who are baptized, who write Catholic or Christian on forms that ask about religious preference, and who proclaim to be Catholic when asked in conversation which denomination they belong to, but pretty much embrace the teachings of Jesus on their own terms, and their own terms alone. 

To provide an example or two — for me the parable makes it pretty clear that God would rather deal with one alcoholic person who is struggling with recovery than a hundred people who drink too much and do little about it. Or it seems, if we are to believe this story, that the Lord would rather deal with one individual who has historically failed miserably in Sunday attendance and the practice of the faith, but who finally decides that the Eucharist and Church need to come first, than the Lord would to work with a hundred who continue to believe that Sunday Mass is something you do because the church says so or when it fits one’s schedule and convenience. 

Like all of the parables, Jesus shares this one in order to get us to think, “Which group are you in?” he asks. “Which son or daughter are you?” 

If we find that we are in the second group, merely paying lip service to the faith, then the Lord gently but firmly says that we’d better get in the first group while we still have time. If we are in the first group, then we hear the Lord saying to us, “Well done, good servant. You are trying to become my apostle. Now take what you have learned and what you have received and bring it to others and bring others to me.”

It makes simple sense really. When the Lord has a church full of sinners really trying to become saints, then He really has a powerful thing going for the whole world. So once again, who are you? Which son or daughter are you? The answer makes all the difference in the world.